A step into the right direction, but not yet on par
Sony’s long-rumored Spartacus subscription program has just been officialized and judging by what’s included, it’s obvious that it’s trying to compete with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. Three new subscription tiers are now available for PlayStation console owners, each aimed at a different category of players. The main drawbacks of Sony’s new PlayStation membership services are that it doesn’t work on PC, and it won’t have games on launch day. Although some of the memberships include access to cloud streaming on PC, not all PlayStation games are streamable and the experience is far from what Microsoft is offering. That being said, if you don’t like what Sony has done with its console membership service by uniting PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now, you can stay on your current membership tier, which doesn’t change at all. So, the current PlayStation Plus membership tier will transition to a new name – PlayStation Pluss Essential but will retain all the benefits: two monthly downloadable games, exclusive discounts, cloud storage for saved games, online multiplayer access. Price for PlayStation Plus Essential remains the same as the current price for PlayStation Plus: $10 / €9 / £7 monthly; $25 / €25 / £20 quarterly; $60 / €60 / £50 yearly. PlayStation Plus Extra provides all the benefits from the Essential tier but adds a catalog of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games, including blockbuster hits from PlayStation Studios catalog and third-party partners.
